Festering With Hatred

In three days time the Sungai Buloh to Kajang (SBK) line of the Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) will come into operation.  Works Package Contractors that have won the contract to construct the respective packages on the Sungai Buloh – Serdang – Putrajaya (SSP) of the MRT will commence their works there in full swing.  The Project Delivery Partner as well as the Supervising Consultants (PDP/SC) will complete the handover of construction-related documents to MRT Corp. All that will be left of the PDP/SC are those overseeing the warranty period.

A project envisioned to help millions of the Klang Valley’s urban and suburban commuters get from one point to another easier will now bear fruit. Every day, tens of thousands of workers from as far as Senawang, Tanjung Malim and Pelabuhan Klang, can take the KTM Komuter and work or find work in places like Kota Damansara, Mutiara Damansara, TTDI, Pusat Bandar Damansara, and Cheras without having to switch to buses or taxi, or drive all the way to their destination.

The MRT anticipates a drop of 160,000 cars enterng Kuala Lumpur and its surrounding areas daily.  The only thing that would prove to fail the statement would be our own attitude towards public transport.

This article may come at a point when things related to a recent hoo-haa have begun to die down.  Nevertheless, I had to do some checking before writing this post.

The first hoo-haa is related to the claim of having 160,000 lesser cars entering Kuala Lumpur etc.  Many ridicule the statement and ask if MRT Corp has 160,000 parking bays or more.  I sometimes wonder if there is anything at all inside the cavity in between their ears.

While the MRT has several Multi-Storey Park and Ride (MSPR) complexes, the idea of having the MRT is for commuters to leave their vehicles at home, not to worry about the “escalating cost of fuel and living,” get on board the feeder buses to the nearest MRT station to get to work.

Previously, someone living in Tanjung Malim working in Kota Damansara’s Sunway Giza for example, would have to take the KTM Komuter and alight at Sungai Buloh, then take either a bus or a taxi to get to office while spending time in traffic.  Now, all he or she has to do is to alight the KTM Komuter at Sungai Buloh and get on one of the MRT trains and alight at the Surian station and take a MRT feeder bus if the last mile is a bit far for walking. Commuters now have access to jobs at places they previously would not consider because it may involve relocating the family.

The next hoo-haa involves the recent visit by Najib Razak and family, and a few selected social media influencers.  There was a claim that passengers were pushed back by Prasarana officials from the front of the coach to the rear.  I find this amusing to say the least.  To understand why I laughed at this claim, you must understand the current phase of the MRT service.

Phase one of the MRT SBK line commences at the Sungai Buloh station, passes Kampung Selamat in Sungai Buloh, Kwasa Damansara, Kwasa Sentral, Kota Damansara, Surian (Sunway Giza), Mutiara Damansara (IKEA), Bandar Utama (One Utama), TTDI (near GLO and KPJ Damansara), Phileo (Section 16/Eastin Hotel), Pusar Bandar Damansara, and terminates at Semantan (until Sunday 16 July 2017).

The Prime Minister and his entourage boarded the train at the Pusat Bandar Damansara station AFTER office hours.  At one station before that (Phileo), Prasarana had cleared the front portion of the train.

You must understand several more things – each train has the capacity to transport 1,200 commuters, three times the number each LRT train can carry. Each train has four coaches.  Every day after office, more commuters take the Sungai Buloh-bound train than the one going to Semantan.  I asked staff from Prasarana and MRT Corp, as well as the Special Branch officers who were there that day, all of them put the number of commuters headed towards Semantan station that day at “ten or less.”  I would concur as I have taken this route at this very time.

The “push back” which obviously was for security reasons, involved getting those on board to clear the area in the vicinity of the first door only.  One official who entered through the third door said, “There were about ten people or less who were seated near the second door. They got off at the last station.”

So, it was not like hundreds of people were pushed back to the fourth coach, but just ten people or less in a train with the capacity to carry 1,200.  How far back do you think did they have to go?

It is a case of making a mountain out of a molehill with the intention to make those alike incensed because here is some wimp who was “inconvenienced” at having to move to the rear of the train, those who hate anything that the government does unless it is a government that has Lim Kit Siang or Lim Guan Eng manning the puppet string.

“Passengers were asked to move to the back of the train.” Pathetic bitch.

And this was all caused by Malaysiakini’s (as usual) absence of journalistic ethics, reporting only half-truths, inciting people to hate anything not controlled by the DAP.  Of course, they have the KPI set by the NED to meet to guarantee operating funds.

I mentioned above that I had to seek clarification on the physical situation of the event in order to understand, and make you understand the circumstances.  Unlike some portal that writes before the brain could start functioning, then corrects its article only after thousands express their rage on social media.